groupon alum dan knispel also was forced to sit on the sidelines as the value of his shares plummeted "i'd say it was rough, from time to time, especially as the number got smaller and smaller." like many early groupon employees, both bowman and knispel took a little less in upfront salary to get equity options in the firm, a decision which looked good when google nearly bought groupon for a reported $6 billion figure in 2010. "i mean, you're just thinking big. you're not thinking money after taxes or anything realistic, you're just thinking, 'i'm going to get a windfall of cash and this is going to be amazing!'" "it's not a new story for tech employees to have their options underwater. it's just kinda the breaks." in his book "groupon's biggest deal ever," frank sennett details how founding partners like eric levkofsky cashed out some of their shares before groupon's ipo, pocketing hundreds of millions of dollars. "they're the early-stage founders, they're the ones driving the bus. and there are all sorts of lessons that life isn't fair and that's one of them." though the rank and fi